Genesis 1:1-2 – Without Form and Void Gap Theory

The Gap Theory or ‘Design Before Development’
was Concocted to Expand Geological Age Claims

Gen 1:1-2. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was formless and void. NASB

Opening Sentence

Business owners call on architects to design before they let a general contractor build so they can develop a large project. That is the logical order, and God is a God of order. In God’s case He can do all three functions. Before anything lived, grew, or multiplied, God designed, created, and then developed His physical creation to bring forth His spiritual intensions.

Opening Paragraph

God did not begin the earth with humankind present first, nor with the purpose of fallen angels to ruin His original creation only to start all over again from a disaster. Therefore, when God describes the earth as “without form and void,” He does not mean what the opening sentence in this paragraph says. He is describing the earth’s original condition as unassigned or unbegun meaning first existing in an unfinished condition awaiting the rest of God’s creative designed development. The account goes on to show God continued creating the expanse (earth’s atmosphere), the oceans, the dry land, the sun, moon and stars, all plant and animal life, and finally Adam and Eve. The text shows God working in steps to fulfill His ultimate purpose for mankind and all creation both physically and spiritually. The story only begins to reveal to us His governing principles which will shape all humanity from Scripture.

The ‘Gap Theory’

With the onset of the theory of Evolution modern Christian teachers have taken the liberty to propose that an undeterminable span of time assumedly exists between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. In their view, God’s original creation in verse 1 was followed by a catastrophic judgment, associated with a needed home for Satan who lead an angelic corruptive fallout from heaven thus leaving the original creation in chaos. From this single phrase “without form and void,” they have deduced some angelic disaster occurred in the earth before Adam and Eve were even created for the need to develop an undefined amount of time to support “Theistic Evolution.” This way they can place all the time for the theories of evolution conveniently into this so-called gap. Somehow, they then go back to keeping the rest of the six days according to the normal scriptural creation account. In the account of the six days, God says, “the morning and the evening.” In case evening and morning was not clear enough, God repeated it six times. That is what Moses heard and recorded, and Jesus repeatedly referred to God as Creator and in Matthew 19:4 He affirmed the creation account as real history as did His Apostles without adding anything about a pre-man habitation. It wasn’t until after Darwin popularized evolution that Christian scholars felt pressured to popularize this ruined world theory to accommodate for all of the continuing time periods being expanded under ongoing evolutional theory while abandoning the literal aspects of these verses.

In Summary

This interpretation started gaining popularity in the mid nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as believers sought to reconcile expanding geological age claims with a literal six-day creation week. By placing geological ages within a hypothetical gap before Adam and Eve, some believed they could preserve both biblical authority and scientific observations. It is important to note that the Gap Theory has not been authenticated by any fundamental denomination. It has appeared within certain conservative Protestant and dispensational teaching streams, but even there, variations exist. Christians who affirm Scripture oppose this theory and it does not function anywhere as a confession of faith.

From a Biblical perspective, the question is not whether a chronological interval exists between verses 1 and 2, or that the text itself should be concerned with later human attempts to stretch the creation week. Genesis opens by declaring that God alone creates: “In the beginning God created” (Genesis 1:1). Creation is not presented as a gradual ascent of life, but as the sovereign act of the One “who calls into being that which does not exist” (Romans 4:17). The earth was “without form and void” not because it had fallen into moral chaos, which also means uninhabited or unassigned. Is this not what we see in the rest of chapter one? God begins by explaining His divine structuring. “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” (Hebrews. 11:3).

Genesis is less concerned with answering modern scientific models and more concerned with revealing God’s governing principles. God shows He alone creates what He desired out of nothing, both in physical creation and in spiritual formation. He forms, then He develops and then He multiplies. The same God who spoke light into darkness is the One who brings life out of spiritual death (2 Corinthians 4:6; Ephesians 2:1–5). Creation and redemption share the same pattern. First, we see God’s desire, then His initiative in design, followed by purpose in manifestation for those who are following His will.

Closing Paragraph

Genesis 1:1–2 establishes more than a beginning. It establishes a Biblical physical and spiritual blueprint. This was God’s plan alone. He alone defines reality. God alone brings fullness out of emptiness. Physical creation and spiritual regeneration follow the same order. It was unseen planning before man was created. It was God spoken authority for divine design and pure manifestation despite angelic and human rebellion. When this principle is understood, “without form and void” is no longer a problem to solve but an unassigned pattern for all of us to trust every day. The Supreme Architect of Heaven prepares what He intends to fill, and He always populates what He has first designed. If you believe the final state of Revelation chapters 21 and 22, you will conclude that the God of Genesis one will end up victorious in what He set out to accomplish.

Romans 8:28-31. We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

This was prepared as a teaching resource by Living the Spirit Filled Life.com. It was compiled from biblical study, historical research, and scriptural analysis using NASB unless noted. It is not intended as a replacement for the Scriptures, but to aid in understanding. You can use this information. Just do not misrepresent how it was intended.